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Jeffrey L Sturchio the American Senior Partner at Rabin Martin and former CEO of the Global Health Council, the world’s largest membership alliance of public health organizations and professionals in more than 140 countries dedicated to saving lives by improving health throughout the world, has been featured in an article by Isolda Agazzi on the IPS News Service titled ‘Tsunami of Diseases Waiting to Hit’ stating “A tsunami is looming on the horizon and the world is unprepared for it. This one won’t be a massive wall of water but a tidal wave of disease – and experts say the international community needs to act fast to keep it from crashing. “Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – cancer, heart disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, among others – have become the leading cause of death worldwide,” Jeffrey Sturchio … told a conference… “Some 36 million people die from (NCDs) every year, 80 percent of them in low and middle income countries – a figure that will increase by 17 percent in the coming years and by 25 percent in Africa,” he added. Tuberculosis and malaria, in comparison, kill one to two million people around the world every year.“The disease burden is shifting to NCDs, but since developing countries still have to fight infectious diseases, they face a double burden,” Sturchio warned. However, developing countries do not appear to be paying adequate attention to the impending crisis. …financial resources are stretched thin, and it is unlikely that the funds needed to launch a massive global campaign will be readily available. “The reality is that in the last 20 years, tens of billions of dollars in official development assistance have gone to developing countries, mainly (to fight) HIV/AIDS, and it is unrealistic to think that the same will happen again, It will therefore be necessary to capitalise on existing investments and reallocate some of the resources already in circulation” he said.”

Yinka Shonibare the 50 year old British-Nigerian artist best known for his exploration of colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation, while acknowledging his physical disability as part of his identity and physically incapable of carrying out the making of the work himself, his conceptualism takes on a new angle. Shonibare’s work explores issues of colonialism alongside those of race and class, through a range of media which include painting, sculpture, photography, installation art, and film. Coline Milliard in an article published on Boulin Artinfo states “…Shonibare has long nurtured an ambiguous relationship with the Establishment, past and present. But the artist, a prominent post-colonialist voice in Britain – who …cherishes his recently awarded order of chivalry as Member of the British Empire with a pride that isn’t entirely ironic. Shonibare is a self-proclaimed dandy, an “insider and outsider,” and the 18th century, cradle of that empire, is a constant point of reference both for its political overtones and dazzling aesthetic. …The adoption of a motif so conveniently combining bright patterns and politics has been a blessing and a curse for the artist. Although it provided him with a “brand,” its repetitive use has led to a flattening out of his production, and accusations of one-trick-ponyism. …the fabric serves an array of distinct topics, of which post-colonialism and hybrid identity are only two of the most central. The omnipresence of conflicts, the threat of global warming, and food-sustainability are key concerns for Shonibare. …But no matter how idea-led, there’s always an obvious enjoyment of the material, of the colors, textures, or the craft of well-tailored garments in Shonibare’s production. “I may be interested in a number of issues, but primarily I am an artist, and my job is to take people elsewhere,” the artist has said. “My job is to create a wonderland for them.”

Jason Hickel a USA Anthropologist specializing in democracy, violence, globalization, and ritual has published an article on Sham Media speaking of today’s dominant economic ideology ‘ neoliberalism’ being taken for granted as natural and inevitable. In the article Hickel states “In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher had to convince people that there was “no alternative” to neoliberalism. Today, this assumption comes ready-made; it’s in the water, part of the common-sense furniture of everyday life, and generally accepted as given by the Right and Left alike. But it has not always been this way. Neoliberalism has a specific history, and knowing that history is an important antidote to its hegemony, for it shows that the present order is not natural or inevitable, but rather that it is new, that it came from somewhere, and that it was designed by particular people with particular interests. If an economist living in the 1950s had seriously proposed any of the ideas and policies in today’s standard neoliberal toolkit, they would have been laughed right off the stage. At that time pretty much everyone was a Keynesian, a social democrat, or some shade of Marxist. … neoliberal policy is directly responsible for declining economic growth and rapidly increasing rates of social inequality – both in the West and internationally.”

William I. Robinson the US professor of sociology focusing on political economy, globalization and historical materialism claims that “As the crisis of global capitalism spirals out of control, the powers that be in the global system appear to be adrift and unable to propose viable solutions… the immense structural inequalities of the global political economy can no longer be contained through consensual mechanisms of social control. The ruling classes have lost legitimacy; we are witnessing a breakdown of ruling-class hegemony on a world scale. …there will be no quick outcome of the mounting global chaos. We are in for a period of major conflicts and great upheavals. …one danger is a neo-fascist response to contain the crisis. We are facing a war of capital against all… In my view, the only viable solution to the crisis of global capitalism is a massive redistribution of wealth and power downward towards the poor majority of humanity along the lines of a 21st-century democratic socialism in which humanity is no longer at war with itself and with nature.”

Dani Rodrik the 54 year old Turkish economist and US Harvard University professor has lamented Europe’s potential next nightmare, a step toward the extreme right in the event of a chaotic eurozone breakup. Rodrik states in an article published on Aljazeera, “Today, the question is no longer whether politics will become more populist and less internationalist; it is whether the consequences of that shift can be managed without turning ugly … The nightmare scenario would also be a 1930s-style victory for political extremism. Fascism, Nazism, and communism were children of a backlash against globalization … feeding on the anxieties of groups that felt disenfranchised and threatened by expanding market forces and cosmopolitan elites … The challenge is to develop a new political narrative emphasizing national interests and values without overtones of nativism and xenophobia. If centrist elites do not prove themselves up to the task, those of the far right will gladly fill the vacuum, minus the moderation.

Amy L. Chua the 48 year old Professor of Law at Yale Law School specializing in the study of international business, ethics and globalization published her third book, a controversial memoir titled “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”. Chua explains in the book her views on parenting from a Chinese perspective, being of ethnic Chinese descent having parents emigrated to the United States from the Philippines. Controversy over the book developed for the very strict child-rearing regime she claimed was typical of Chinese parents advocating the “superiority” of such an approach, listed a number of very strict rules she enforces on her two daughters. Chua’s husband is Jewish, and the two children are also raised Jewish, which adds another dimension to Chua’s claim of parenting from a Chinese perspective.

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Mohamed Ghilan the Saudi Arabia born Canadian Muslim who writes articles relating to Islamic topics, theology, and philosophy of religion and science, has published an article on Aljareera titled ‘To Sharia or not to Sharia: The question of Islamopolitics’ in which he states “The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently released their […]